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Combinatorial selection for replicable RNA by Qβ replicase while maintaining encoded gene function.

ABSTRACT: Construction of a complex artificial self-replication system is challenging in the field of in vitro synthetic biology. Recently, we developed a translation-coupled RNA replication system, wherein an artificial genomic RNA replicates with the Qβ RNA replicase gene encoded on itself. The challenge is to introduce additional genes into the RNA to develop a complex system that mimics natural living systems. However, most RNA sequence encoding genes are not replicable by the Qβ replicase owing to its requirement for strong secondary structures throughout the RNA sequence that are absent in most genes. In this study, we establish a new combinatorial selection method to find an RNA sequence with secondary structures and functional amino acid sequences of the encoded gene. We selected RNA sequences based on their in vitro replication and in vivo gene functions. First, we used the α-domain gene of β-galactosidase as a model-encoding gene, with functional selection based on blue-white screening. Through the combinatorial selection, we developed more replicable RNAs while maintaining the function of the encoded α-domain. The selected sequence improved the affinity between the minus strand RNA and Qβ replicase. Second, we established an in vivo selection method applicable to a broader range of genes by using an Escherichia coli strain with one of the essential genes complemented with a plasmid. We performed the combinatorial selection using an RNA encoding serS and obtained more replicable RNA encoding functional serS gene. These results suggest that combinatorial selection methods are useful for the development of RNA sequences replicable by Qβ replicase while maintaining the encoded gene function.

SUBMITTER: Yumura M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5362092 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:UnlabelledChanges in protein function and other biological properties, such as RNA structure, are crucial for adaptation of organisms to novel or inhibitory environments. To investigate how mutations that do not alter amino acid sequence may be positively selected, we performed a thermal adaptation experiment using the single-stranded RNA bacteriophage Qβ in which the culture temperature was increased from 37.2°C to 41.2°C and finally to an inhibitory temperature of 43.6°C in a stepwise manner in three independent lines. Whole-genome analysis revealed 31 mutations, including 14 mutations that did not result in amino acid sequence alterations, in this thermal adaptation. Eight of the 31 mutations were observed in all three lines. Reconstruction and fitness analyses of Qβ strains containing only mutations observed in all three lines indicated that five mutations that did not result in amino acid sequence changes but increased the amplification ratio appeared in the course of adaptation to growth at 41.2°C. Moreover, these mutations provided a suitable genetic background for subsequent mutations, altering the fitness contribution from deleterious to beneficial. These results clearly showed that mutations that do not alter the amino acid sequence play important roles in adaptation of this single-stranded RNA virus to elevated temperature.ImportanceRecent studies using whole-genome analysis technology suggested the importance of mutations that do not alter the amino acid sequence for adaptation of organisms to novel environmental conditions. It is necessary to investigate how these mutations may be positively selected and to determine to what degree such mutations that do not alter amino acid sequences contribute to adaptive evolution. Here, we report the roles of these silent mutations in thermal adaptation of RNA bacteriophage Qβ based on experimental evolution during which Qβ showed adaptation to growth at an inhibitory temperature. Intriguingly, four synonymous mutations and one mutation in the untranslated region that spread widely in the Qβ population during the adaptation process at moderately high temperature provided a suitable genetic background to alter the fitness contribution of subsequent mutations from deleterious to beneficial at a higher temperature.

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Combinatorial selection for replicable RNA by Qβ replicase while maintaining encoded gene function.

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